When I started using Steam in, like, 2003, today's features weren't ALL there, you know.
I do care about higher prices, for sure, but I don't think competition is likely to bring higher prices. Considering the number of AA and AAA games I got on EGS this year only, I'd say my average gaming fees have gone down, not up, since EGS arrived.
I think they've done some shitty decisions, for sure, and bringing exclusivity to PC gaming isn't good per se, but I'm willing to give them a couple of years still to adjust to market without wishing them to die at the hands of Steam.
It is mostly the US market - where they are taking a loss - which has
maybe seen lower prices.
A lot of this has been due to Epic eating $10 on every purchase via discount coupons as a temporary measure to encourage people to buy non-exclusive games on their store instead of Steam, in the hopes of building up a large enough library to switch.
One way EGS has been good though, is that some regions have now gained lower regional pricing, when they were previously not covered by Steam.
Exclusivity deals and the lack of key trading/reselling naturally drives prices higher for the PC market.
This did not happen even when a game was only sold on Steam (but not "exclusive" to it) because Valve encouraged developers to hand out keys to resellers - so competition on pricing was thriving even though the final key redemption ended up on Steam no matter where you bought it.
EGS has encouraged many companies to leave Steam or remove key redemption from their own platforms.
And their DRM prevents other applications from launching their games, so I can't even inject things like Steam Input into them, like I can with games on other platforms.
PC gaming has become considerably more expensive in large parts of the world due to their actions.
Games are often priced ~$20 USD higher for me now.
Epic has not brought the kind of competition that benefits consumers. They have been eating losses and engaging in monopolistic practices - more than anything Valve have done - to try and gain control of the market.
Sure, we got some free games from it, but that in itself could be argued to be a bad thing - especially for indie developers - by changing consumers' buying habits and perception of value.
My own spending on PC games is way down ever since Epic joined the market.
